Growth and Development of the

Columbia Basin PIT Tag Information SystemGrowth and Development of the

Columbia Basin PIT Tag Information SystemPTAGIS Event Records, 1987-2005Agency Released Mortality* Recaptured

BIOMRK 873,867 9,988 4,263COE 2,866 5 56CPUD 818,700 1,459 8,330CRITFC 11,302 4,710 4,881CTUIR 71,954 174 6,946CTWSR 4,943 13DUCKSU 1,190 51FPC 1,074,047 142 5,316GPUD 406ICFWRU 107,452 5,254 7,839IDFG 1,412,363 1,861 90,239NMFS 6,471,783 463,883 138,615NPT 1,027,378 1,012 70,330ODFW 850,806 831 48,899PGE 717PNL 205,935 26 20PSMFC 67,293 1,472 730SEARES 11,699 22 3,992SHOBAN 14,474 33 3,107UCFWRU 1,860 101USFWS 1,650,237 2,325 16,769USGS 72,030 596 4,594WDFW 286,160 2,169 53,727YINN 812,493 482 6,283Totals 15,851,955 496,457 475,088*Includes shed and lost tags, and fish sacrificed for research.

PIT Tag Detections at Juvenile Bypass and Hatchery Release Sites, 1987-2005

11 2459 35 49 39

107

353291

599

940

609

792

914

1047

784

1 3 4 9

92 99 116 114

824

229247 236232

0

300

600

900

1,200

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Th

ou

san

ds

Year of Detection

Tag

s D

etec

ted

Juvenile Fish Bypasses

Hatchery Release Sites

PIT Tag Detections at Adult Fish Ladders and(Mostly) Juvenile Migrant Traps, 1988-2005

2835

7094

119 144

73

164

350

927

202

460 376

821 717 730

1k2k

4k

14k

29k42k 43k

61k

4k

2k2k

6k

18k

10k 10k

19k28k 26k 22k

1E+1

1E+2

1E+3

1E+4

1E+5

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Year of Detection

Tag

s D

etec

ted

Adult Fish Ladders

Traps, Weirs, etc.

PIT Tag Detections, by Year(Numbers of Detection Sites are shown in parentheses)

(3) (4) (7) (8) (11) (12)(12)

(14)(16)

(15)(11)

(14)

(19)

(20)

(23)

(38)(41)

(43) (48)

0.0

0.3

0.6

0.9

1.2

1.5

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Mill

ion

s

Year

Det

ecti

ons

Tagging Effort by Columbia Basin Sub-region, 1987-2005

DeschutesBasin23k

John DayBasin45k

WillametteBasin61k

LowerColumbia

156k

Upper Columbiaabove the Snake

4.46M

Mid-ColumbiaBON to Snake

1.43M

ClearwaterBasin1.62M

SalmonBasin2.46M

YakimaBasin755k

Lower Snakebelow HCD

4.13M

PTAGIS Data Coordinators and Release Sites, 1987-2005

57

10 1214

16

23

31 30

3532

42

55 56

6165 65

6770

0

60

120

180

240

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Marking Year

Rel

ease

Sit

es

0

20

40

60

80

Dat

a C

oo

rdin

ato

rs

Release Sites

Coordinators

Overview

The PIT Tag Information System (PTAGIS) receives, stores, correlates, and provides researchers and analysts with data for millions of anadromous salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and other fish in the Columbia Basin marked with Passive Integrated Transponder

(PIT) tags. Each PIT tag is uniquely coded, allowing researchers to monitor the life history of individual fish. Since 1987, PIT tags have been injected into almost 16 million fish, primarily juvenile salmon and steelhead (O. mykiss), in the Columbia Basin.

PIT tag antennas are built into the juvenile fish collection and bypass systems and/or adult fishways at most of the mainstem dams, and at many other locations, within the Columbia Basin. These automated interrogation systems passively record the code, date and time, and location of each PIT-tagged fish that passes the antennas. Since 1987, almost 6.3 million individual fish have been detected at one or more of these interrogation sites, generating over 65.8 million detection records. PTAGIS operates the automated PIT tag interrogation sites at, and contributes the detection data from, all of the mainstem fish passage facilities in the Snake and lower Columbia rivers.

PTAGIS developed the data collection software programs used to record PIT tag markingand detection events. These software packages verify the data as they are collected in thefield. All data are also validated when they are received by PTAGIS. After this second round of inspection and validation, the data are then loaded into the PTAGIS database.Because the server-side validation and loading processes are completely automated, PITtag mark/recapture data are incorporated into the PTAGIS database immediately uponreceipt. Interrogation data are processed every three hours. All data loaded to the PTAGISdatabase are immediately available on the Internet, from the PTAGIS Web Portal at www.ptagis.org/ptagis.

PTAGIS also supports and administers the Separation by Code (SbyC) program at two adultfish traps and six juvenile fish bypass systems in the Snake and lower Columbia rivers. The SbyC process allows individual tagged fish to be automatically and passively separated from the general population of tagged and untagged fish as they pass through these facilities. Theselected fish may be collected as part of a sub-sample, or automatically segregated into testand control groups as part of a paired-release experiment.

Tagging Effort by Species, 1987-2005

Chinook11.34M

Steelhead3.68M

Coho613k

Sockeye189k

BullTrout3.6k

Cutthroat8.1k

NorthernPikeminnow

2.9kLamprey

1.9k

Shad 605

Brook Trout400

PIT Tag Marking and Release Activity

PIT-tagged fish were first released into the Columbia River Basin in 1987, when 25,000 smolts were tagged during the Spring migration. In 2005, over 1.5 million parr and smolts were PIT-tagged, as well as thousands of other adfluvial, resident, and anadromous fishes, includ- ing kelts and returning adult salmon and steelhead.

PIT tags were initially used to augment research and monitoring activities that relied on other marking techniques, such as freeze- branding. PIT tags ultimately replaced these other techniques in most applications. Between 1987 and 1993, PIT tags were used primarily to audit and document the seasonal passage distribution of populations of known stocks of fish, or to assess the travel time of individual tagged smolts from their release, at a hatchery or an in-river trap, to their detection at one of the main interrogation sites at the juvenile fish collection and transportation facilities in the Snake and lower Columbia rivers.

In the 1990s, as automated PIT tag diversion gates were installed at the juvenile fish collection (and now bypass) facilities, and as new or expanded detection facilities were built at two sites in the lower Columbia River, researchers began conducting river reach survival studies, and significantly more fish were tagged in support of these studies.

New tags, using 134.2 kHz ISO technology, were first used during the Spring 2000 smolt out-migration. These tags had a greater detection range than the 400 kHz tags used in previous years, allowing for the development of new, larger detection systems in adult fish ladders. Improved detection of returning tagged adults made it feasible to design and implement new transportation evaluation studies, and up to 500k fish have been tagged each year specifically for this purpose.

In recent years, PIT tags have been used to mark and track returning adult salmon and steelhead ascending the Columbia and Snake rivers. PIT tags are also used to mark and track an increasing number and diversity of other species throughout the Columbia Basin, including northern pikeminnow, shad, juvenile and adult Pacific lamprey, bull trout, brook trout, and both resident (adfluvial) and anadromous stocks of cutthroat trout.

Tagging Effort by Year, 1987-2005

1.59M

1.75M

2.31M2.33M

1.19M1.29M

1.53M

1.07M

557k503k508k428k

206k132k112k95k143k

72k36k

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Mill

ion

s

Year

Fis

h T

agg

ed

PIT Tag Data Events

In addition to information regarding the acquisition and distribution of PIT tags for studies in the Columbia Basin, the records in the PTAGIS data warehouse describes four separate types of events specific to PIT-tagged fish.

Tag /Release – Each PIT tag is uniquely associated with a specific tagging event. A description of each fish (including species, stock, size, and condition) is recorded during the tagging procedure. The location and time of release is also reported for each tagged fish.

Interrogation – Tagged fish may be passively detected at one or more automated detection locations. These fixed sites record the time of each detection as a tagged fish passes through or past one or more antennas.

Recapture – Data for live fish that are observed subsequent to their release are reported to PTAGIS along with any available morphological information.

Mortality – Data for dead fish, or for bare PIT tags recovered subsequent to the release event, complete the life history for the PIT-tagged host animal.

PIT Tag Interrogation

A key component of the Columbia Basin PIT Tag Information System is the ability to passively and automatically detect tagged fish as they migrate up- or downstream. These fixed-site interrogation systems generate the majority of observations for PIT tags marked in the Columbia River Basin.

In the 1980s, with the limited read-range afforded by the 400 kHz PIT tags then available, the initial interrogation systems were installed in the juvenile fish collection facilities at Lower Granite, Little Goose, and McNary dams. PIT tag antennas were installed in the facilities’ fish-bearing pipes and flumes, which do not exceed 12” (300mm) in diameter.

In the early 1990s, new gates were installed in the flumes at the juvenile fish collection facilities. These gates opened automatically when a PIT-tagged fish was detected, routing the fish back to the river. Additional PIT tag antennas were installed above these gates to increase diversion rates; new and additional antennas were installed below these gates to confirm the passage route of the tagged fish. In 1996, Separation by Code (SbyC) technology was introduced that refined gate operations to allow individual tagged fish to be diverted away from other tagged and untagged fish, and routed either to the river or to a collection tank for physical observation.

The introduction of new 134.2 kHz ISO PIT tags to the Columbia Basin in 2000 spurred the development of new interrogation system geometries that took advantage of the increased read-range of the new tags. Antennas were installed in the weir orifices of fish ladders at many dams. Newer, stronger tags have allowed the development of larger antennas, and these have been installed in the vertical slots and at the counting windows in adult ladders, providing essentially 100% detection for all tagged fish passing upstream.

New and innovative interrogation systems have recently been developed and are being installed throughout the Columbia Basin to monitor the movement of multiple species of PIT-tagged fish. A new antenna instal-lation at the Bonneville Dam Corner Collector measures 17’ (8m) square.

Note: All information is current as of February, 2006, and subject to change.PTAGIS is a Fisheries Data Project of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission.